DJ's howl will live on with statue
Posted on 03/17/2003 4:10:54 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
DJ's howl will live on with statue
Replica of honor for Wolfman Jack unveiled
03/17/2003
DEL RIO, Texas - A statue of the man who became Wolfman Jack when broadcasting on a border radio station will be erected in his honor this Halloween in Del Rio.
A miniature replica of the statue was unveiled at a daylong music festival in Del Rio, which drew hundreds of music fans to the border city over the weekend.
Jay Johnson, president of the Wolfman Jack Memorial Foundation, described how the legendary radio personality helped spread rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll tunes across the United States and internationally through the 250,000-watt radio station XERF-AM, based across the border from Del Rio in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
Standing just over 2 feet tall, the statue replica was constructed by sculptor Michael Maiden out of wax. It depicts Wolfman Jack dancing a jig on one leg with a rainbow of musical notes and records raining down behind him.
"This really puts us on the map," said Del Rio Mayor Dora G. Alcala. "It's something really, really big."
On XERF, New Yorker Robert Smith was transformed almost four decades ago into the howling late-night DJ Wolfman Jack. He remained a fixture on radio and television through the 1970s and 1980s until his death of a heart attack in 1995.
His widow, Lou Lamb Smith, who traveled from the family home in North Carolina to Del Rio for the ceremony, said the statue and music festival were fitting tributes to her husband.
"I'm elated Del Rio wants to do this," Ms. Smith told the Del Rio News-Herald in Sunday's online edition. "This is where Wolf began. He was never on the air before XERF."
Ms. Smith, who was married to the radio personality for 35 years, has donated the studio he used until the day of his death as well as hundreds of pieces of memorabilia to be displayed in what she hopes will be a museum constructed in his memory.
"People who know who I am always come up to me and try to imitate Wolf's voice. To me, that's an honor," Ms. Smith said. "Something like this, it brings back so many happy emotions."
So9
Damn...Wolfman Jack is gone? He would have been great on satellite radio. But now we'll never know. R.I.P.
Wolfman Jack. He was a lot of fun back in the 60's.Thanks for the ping. :)
I gotta come back here later on. Tomorrow sometime.
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